Auxiliary latch



W. N MORSE AND W. F. WlLLlAMS.

' AUXiLIARY LATCH. APPLICATION FILED MAR-29. I92].

1N VEN TORS We! JV. Alorse and Wager F lliazns zyQ fxmw TTORNEY Patented Nov. 28, 1922.

Patented Nov, 28,

WALTER N. MORSE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, AND WALTER E. WILLIAIES, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

AUXILIARY LATCH.

Application filed March 29, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we WALTER N. Monsn, residing at San Francisco. in the county of San Francisco, State of California. and

(Var/run F. VJ TLTIAhIS, residing at Oakland,

in the county of Alameda, State of California, both citizens of the United Etates,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Auxiliary Latches; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and

exact description of the same reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked there.- on. which form a part of. this application.

This invention. relates to improvements in latches, and particularly to a type adapted for use on ordinary house doors and arranged to operate either when the door is entirely closed or when it is partially opened, and to be used independently of the lock ordinarily provided.

The principal object of our invention is to provide a lock for this purpose which may be operated by the foot of a person within the house, either to throw it into actuating position or to hold it against locking movement.

lVith a door having our improved latch installed thereon however, the person opening the door may instantly set the latch in its working position so that when the door is opened part way, the latch will engage a slot in the floor and the door cannot then be forced further open without the use of excessive force and noise, which a criminal is of course anxious to avoid. The house holder can thus see and converse with the party outside, but the latter cannot enter the house unless his identity is satisfactorily established. In this case the latch. bar can easily be removed from its slot by a movement of the foot of the person inside the house.

It is also desirable at times to leave the door partly open, for purposes of ventilation as in hot weather and this can now be done with the assurance that no undesirable person can gain admission even though no one is in the room.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposes which it is designed.

These objects we accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of Serial No. 456,529.

parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a front view of our latch, as at tached to the interior surface of a door, the latter being closed and the latch being in disengaged position.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the door partially opened and the latch engaged.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detached rear view of the lock box showing the latch held in disengaged position.

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the latch engaged with its floor-slot.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the numeral 1 denotes a casing or box of suitable dimensions, adapted to be attached to the interior of a door 2, a certain distance from its free edge, and adjacent the floor, by means of screws 3 or otherwise.

Vertically positioned in the box and projecting through the bottom thereof is a looking bar 4, preferably of substantial propon tions, and quite heavy. so that it will readily drop by gravity. This bar passes freely through a guide strap 5 in the box, which, with the bottom slot in the box, insure the vertical alinement of said bar.

A, pin 6 projects from the bar and rides in a slot 7 on the inner end of an arm 8 which projects through one side or edge of the casing to form a pedal 9, being pivoted in the casing intermediate its ends.

Positioned in substantially vertical alinement with the arm 8 and pivoted in the casing thereabove is a pawl member 10 adapted to engage a notch 11 cut in one face of the bar 4:, the pawl and notch being so positioned as to co-operate to hold the bar against downward movement. Attached to the pawl and projecting through the side of the easing above the arm 8 is a trip 12, of lesser area and length than the pedal 9, so that the latter can be manipulated without interfer ence with the trip. Beyond the pawl and connected therewith is a counterbalancing weight 13, so as to normally hold the pawl in engagement with the notch.

To insure however against the pawl jumping out of the notch and releasing the bar 4: at undesired times, as when the householder goes out and slams the door behind him, making it impossible for him to reenter through the door, a spring 14: is attached to the weight 13 and to the casing and acts in conjunction with. the weight to hold the pawl engaged.

Set in the floor 15 of the building is a plate 16, preferably provided with a pair of slots 17 to receive the bar 4, one ot' said slots being positioned to receive the bar 4L when the door is closed, and the other to receive said bar When the door is partially opened, as shown on Fig. 2, the extent to which the door may be opened depending on the distance the box 1 and plate are placed from the hinged edge of the door.

This latch is also adapted tor use with sliding doors, in which case the plate 16 would extend parallel to the door, the location of the plate being the only difference necessary.

In operation, suppose the bar t to be held from action, and it is desired to cause the same to engage with the innermost door-slot, or when the door is partly opened. As soon as the door is opened so that the bar l is out of line of the first floor-slot, the trip 12 is depressed by the foot, when the bar will drop, by reason of its weight, to rest on the floor or plate 16, the amount of movement thus allowed the bar being sufficient to throw the notch therein out of alinement of the pawl. Then when the door is opened still further, the bar will enter the inner slot when it arrives in alinernent therewith, at the same time raising the pedal 9. To disengage the bar from the slot, the pedal 9 is depressed to its full extent of possible move ment, which will again aline the notch in the bar with the pawl, and the latter will then automatically seat therein.

If desired, the plate-slot positioned to re ceive the bar when the door is closed may be omitted.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects oi the invention as set forth herein.

Vhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the devi e, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A latch structure comprising a casing adapted to be attached to a door, a vertical weighted barslidably mounted in the casing and adapted to project into a floor slot there below, a spring-pulled lever pivoted in the casing adjacent the bar and projecting from one edge of the casing to form a pedal, a pawl fixed on the lever adjacen its pivvotal connection and adapted to engage a notch in the bar when the latter is raised, and another pedal member pivoted in the casing under the lever and in substantially the same vertical plane as the lever, said last named pedal member being flexibly connected to the bar, and projecting beyond the first named pedal member outside the casing.

2. A latch structure comprising in combination with a casing adapted to be attached to a door, a vertical weighted bar slidably mounted in the casing, and adapted to project therebelow, and manually operable means for normally holding the bar upwardly while permitting it to drop by gravity when said means is actuated; a slotted floor plate, the slots in said plate being positioned in the path of movement of the bar when the door is moved.

In testimony whereof we aiiiX our signatures.

WALTER N. MORSE. WALTER F. WILLIAMS. 

